Banks must be allowed to fail in an orderly manner

16 Jun 2011

Mark Littlewood and Prof Philip Booth speak to the BBC and Channel 4

Following Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne's Mansion House speech where he announced that banks will be ring-fenced - keeping retail and investment functions apart - Mark Littlewood, Director General of the IEA, spoke to BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight and BBC Scotland's Good Morning Scotland and argued that the Chancellor's announcements miss the point. Instead we should be working towards creating legal mechanisms whereby banks can fail in an orderly manner and not bring the whole system down with them.

Prof Philip Booth, Editorial Director of the IEA, also appeared on Channel 4 News discussing the sell-off of Northern Rock, saying that it is possible that the taxpayer may end up making a return on the sale.